In 2002, Sean Swarner became one of small group of people to successfully climb Mount Everest. More astonishing than that: Swarner scaled the tallest peak in the world with only one lung.<\/p>\n
Though Everest is an obstacle course that could bring any climber to their breaking point\u2014– freezing temperatures, risk of frostbite, avalanches, high winds and low levels of oxygen\u201428-year-old Swarner had already survived another beast\u2014cancer\u2014twice, before he\u2019d even reached 18 years old. Being the first cancer survivor to stand at the \u201ctop of the world,\u201d made his victory that much sweeter. Swarner\u2019s survival story begins when he was 13. He injured his knee playing basketball with some friends and hours later every joint in his body was swollen. His parents rushed him to the hospital. Days passed, the swelling only got worse. After multiple blood tests and visits with an oncologist, Swarner was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Disease, a cancer of the lymph system.<\/p>\n
His body riddled with cancer, Swarner had to undergo a year of chemotherapy — two to three treatments a week — that left him in a constant state of nausea, and caused him to lose his hair and gain weight. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the cancer wasn\u2019t going to kill me the treatments were,\u201d Swarner tells Guideposts.org.<\/p>\n
Miraculously, Swarner went into remission. But that, unfortunately, was not the end of his teenage cancer battle.<\/p>\n
When he was 16, Swarner faced an even bigger challenge. Doctors told him he had something called Askin\u2019s Sarcoma after a routine exam showed a tumor in his lung. A rare cancer \u2013 only three out of a million people are diagnosed each year \u2013 this one was even more deadly than Hodgkins Disease, with a survival rate of just six percent.<\/p>\n
The aggressive disease called for aggressive treatment. Swarner would face four day radiation cycles where he would undergo treatment, recover and then begin the process again. It took such a toll on his body that doctors put him in a medically induced coma for those days, so that he didn\u2019t remember the devastating side effects of the chemo. This went on for a year and a half.<\/p>\n
\u201cI barely remember being 16,\u201d he admits. \u201cI\u2019ll go visit a hospital now and I\u2019ll smell something that brings back a flood of memories I didn\u2019t know I had. It\u2019s really scary sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Facing death not once but twice would cause most people feelings of anger, frustration, even depression. Swarner said he felt all of that, but one emotion trumped them all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I saw it was I only have two choices: fight for my life or give up and die,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat\u2019s the logical choice? Well, for me at least, I\u2019m not going to just sit there and tap on my chest and say \u2018All right, I\u2019m done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Swarner beat his second bout with cancer, though the treatments and the tumor cost him a lung \u2013 if you\u2019ve ever watched the movie Finding Nemo<\/em>, you\u2019ll laugh when he explains why he calls it his \u201clucky lung.\u201d<\/p>\n With cancer behind him, Swarner wanted to use his life to inspire others facing the same battles he\u2019d gone through. An eye-opening trip to Guatemala climbing El Volacano de Agua gave him an idea.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do something that no survivor had ever done before,\u201d he explains. \u201cI kept doing research and it was like, \u2018Well, why don\u2019t I use the highest platform in the world to scream hope?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s where Everest came in. An athlete, Swarner was used to logging mile-long runs and rock-climbing with friends, but to reach the tallest point in the world, he had to prepare another part of his body: his mind.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at it as one big gigantic mountain you are going to freak out,\u201d Swarner says. \u201cIf you break it down into smaller chunks, you can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Of standing atop Everest, he says:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like taking every motion you\u2019ve ever had in your entire life, putting it into one of those little tiny bouncing balls, squeezing it down to that size and exploding it all at once.”<\/p>\n But reaching Everest\u2019s summit wasn\u2019t the end of Swarner\u2019s journey either. He admittedly got the \u201cclimbing bug\u201d and went on to complete the 7-Summits, scaling peaks in Africa, Europe, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and North America.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to hit a hospital on every continent and tell those patients \u2018Hey, I was in your shoes. My first goal was to go from the hospital bed to the bathroom,\u2019\u201d Swarner says.<\/p>\n Now Swarner is a motivational speaker, giving talks across the globe, an author (his new inspirational eBook series 7 Summits To Success<\/em> was released earlier this year) and the founder of the nonprofit The Cancer Climber Association, whose mission is to help those impacted by cancer to live an active, healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n He hopes to set up a mobile camp, touring hospitals across the country and inspiring kids and young adults facing cancer to continue the fight. On a grander scale, he wants his story to teach others that, no matter what mountain they\u2019re facing, they can overcome it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou always have a choice in how you want to see things,\u201d Swarner says. \u201cEvery day you wake up, the person you see in the mirror is making that choice. Abe Lincoln said \u2018Whether you believe you can or you can\u2019t, you\u2019re right.\u2019 That\u2019s how you have to see goals. That\u2019s how you have to see life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2002, Sean Swarner became one of small group of people to successfully climb Mount Everest. More astonishing than that: Swarner scaled the tallest peak in the world with only one lung. Though Everest is an obstacle course that could bring any climber to their breaking point\u2014– freezing temperatures, risk of frostbite, avalanches, high winds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":30086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[270,185],"tags":[66,51],"ppma_author":[470],"class_list":["post-22892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living-with-cancer","category-stories-of-faith-and-hope","tag-cancer","tag-inspirational-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n